Tomorrow and Wednesday (Tuesday and Wednesday, May 27/28) Aberdeenshire councillors will be asked to approve the local plan without the Kintore development - making this the second time that the plan has been barred from the local plan.

At Kintore.org.uk we have seen, again and again, how the demand for a supermarket in Kintore is one of the top desires of many residents of our growing town.

We have also seen a huge groundswell of support for the Gateway Kintore development, which proposes a supermarket, filling station, restaurants, hotel and business development alongside an upgraded Broomhill roundabout.

In 2012, 1,000 people from Kintore, Fintray, Blackburn, Kemnay, Inverurie and other local areas put their name on a petition (870 online, others on paper) supporting the development. Then, more recently, 340 people (three times more the total representations from Inverurie and Westhill combined) wrote to the council demanding that Gateway Kintore be added to the local plan.

The Gateway Kintore plan is also not just a pipe dream. Kintore.org.uk understands that talks are ongoing with a national supermarket and hotel chains, who are considering the opportunity and keen to look at the detail of locating at Gateway Kintore.

From that perspective it is perplexing that Aberdeenshire Council should continue to defy the well-expressed wishes of the people.

What exactly is it that the council finds so unacceptable that they feel they have to block this development?

If our understanding is correct there is correct, there are commercial interests in this site, keen to provide the services that the people of this area of Aberdeenshire want.

Why must we wait another five years for the Council's officers to recognise the benefits that this site brings, or to see if another site can be found (by which time the potential operators may well have lost interest)?

We urge councillors to speak up for the people of Kintore tomorrow and Wednesday.